Paul Canoville's Portrait Acquired by National Portrait Gallery
Paul Canoville with Desmond, a student from Brentside High School
Whilst working on the Creative Connections commission at the National Portrait Gallery in collaboration with Brentside High School, artist Eelyn Lee was keen to include a portrait of someone with links to the school in the final display. With notable alumni from neighbouring schools already in the Collection, such as Peter Crouch and Steve McQueen there was an obvious gap to be filled.
Brentside does have a significant former student, Paul Canoville the first black footballer to play for Chelsea in 1982. Canoville suffered a great deal of racism both on and off the pitch, and injury forced him in take early retirement. He has since written his autobiography Black and Blue and gives motivational talks to young people.
Eelyn is pleased to announce that a photographic portrait of Paul Canoville by Hugh Hastings was acquired especially for the display and his image now sits in the National Portrait Gallery's Collection as a just acknowledgement for his contributions to British life and culture.
Eelyn has written a powerful piece about the significance of this acquisition in her guest blog for the National Portrait Gallery. Read it here.
